Ramesh Pokhriyal

Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank'
Minister of Human Resource Development
Incumbent
Assumed office 30 May 2019
Prime Minister	Narendra Modi
Preceded by	Prakash Javadekar
Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha
Incumbent
Assumed office 16 May 2014
Preceded by	Harish Rawat
Constituency	Haridwar
5th Chief Minister of Uttarakhand
In office 27 June 2009 – 11 September 2011
Preceded by	B. C. Khanduri
Succeeded by	B. C. Khanduri
Personal details
Born	(1959-07-15) 15 July 1959 Pinani, Uttarakhand, India
Political party	Bharatiya Janata Party
Spouse	Kusum Kanta Pokhriyal ​ ​ (m. 1985; died 2012)​
Children	3, including Arushi Nishank
Residence(s)	Dehradun, Uttarakhand
Alma mater	Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal University
Website	www.rameshpokhriyalnishank.in

Ramesh Pokhriyal (born 15 July 1959), known by his nom de plume Nishank is an Indian politician serving as the Minister of Human Resource Development in the Second Modi Ministry. He represents the Haridwar Parliamentary constituency of Uttarakhand in the 17th Lok Sabha.

He was the 5th Chief Minister of Uttarakhand from 2009 to 2011. He was member of 16th Lok Sabha and chairperson, Committee on Government Assurances.

Personal life

Pokhriyal was born in Pinani village, Pauri Garhwal, Uttarakhand to Paramanamd Pokhriyal and Vishambhari Devi. He have received an M.A. degree from Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal University.

Pokhriyal married Kusum Kanta Pokhriyal on 7 May 1985, with whom he has three daughters. One of their daughters, Arushi Nishank is a Indian classical dancer, environmentalist, social activist and film producer . |url=https://www.dailypioneer.com/2018/state-editions/arushi-nishank-featured-in-forbes-middle-east.html |accessdate=22 November 2019 |work=The Pioneer |date=26 October 2018 |language=en}}</ref> His wife died on 11 November 2012 in Dehradun at the age of 50.

Political career

Pokhriyal started his career as a teacher in Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh-affiliated Saraswati Shishu Mandir. He was first elected to public office in the erstwhile undivided Uttar Pradesh as a member of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly from Karnaprayag constituency in 1991, defeating a five-time Congress MLA. He was re-elected in 1993 and 1996 from the same constituency. In 1997 he was appointed to the position of Uttaranchal Development Minister. He was also Uttarakhand’s Chief Minister (from 2009 to 2011) and served as a member of Lok Sabha’s 17th session and the Chairman of the Assurance Committee. He is a representative of Haridwar constituency in the Lok Sabha. He was the Member of Legislative Assembly of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand for five consecutive terms from 1991 to 2012. He was elected first time in 1991 from Karnaprayag ward for three consecutive terms. In 2014, he resigned from Doiwala, and elected from Haridwar for Lok Sabha. On 30 May 2019, he was sworn in as a Cabinet minister in the 2nd Modi Government.

Literary career

He is recognized in the country and abroad as a writer, litterateur, poet, sensitive thinker on the Himalayas and the Ganges. Pokhriyal has written novels, stories and poems. He has authored 75 books, about 15 people has either completed or doing research on his literature. His books have been translated into every Indian and many foreign languages. More than 15 countries had honoured him.

Controversy

In 2014, Pokhriyal caused a controversy when he made a statement in the parliament claiming that astrology should be promoted. He said "Astrology is the biggest science. It is in fact above science. We should promote it". Talking about Lord Ganesha, he said that ancient Indians had the knowledge to transplant a severed head. He has also claimed that Sage Kanada had conducted a nuclear test lakhs of years ago (even though according to historical evidence, the sage is likely to have lived only about two thousand years ago). Pokhriyal has listed two different dates of birth on official documents, a discrepancy that he attributed to the Hindu horoscope.

In the 1990s, the Open International University for Complementary Medicines of Colombo, Sri Lanka conferred a D.Litt. for his contribution in literature. He subsequently received another D.Litt. degree from the same institution for contributions in the field of science. However, OIU is neither registered as a foreign university nor as a domestic university in Sri Lanka, as confirmed by the University Grants Commission of Sri Lanka. In August 2019, an appeal was filed in President Ram Nath Kovind’s office for Ramesh Pokhriyal’s disqualification as minister for citing a ‘fake’ doctorate degree. Pokhriyal's claim to have received an M.A. degree from Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal University have also been called into question.

In 2019, after being appointed as the HRD Minister, Pokhriyal issued a directive saying that all the files and note sheets forwarded to him must be in Hindi. This created controversy with ministry officials, as not all of them had the level of proficiency in Hindi needed to prepare notes in that language, and the norm until then had been to prepare all official notes in English. Even though the government had traditionally encouraged officials to have a working knowledge of Hindi, existing rules did not make it compulsory for officials to be highly proficient in Hindi.

In August 2019 at the 57th convocation ceremony of IIT Bombay, Pokhriyal falsely claimed that the U.S. space agency NASA had acknowledged that talking computers could be developed only by employing Sanskrit, which he described as "the world's only scientific language". He also misquoted that Charaka, hailed as one of the principal contributors of Ayurveda, was the first person who researched and discovered atoms and molecules, when in actuality, it was 6th century BCE philosopher Kanada who developed the foundations of an atomistic approach to physics and philosophy in the Sanskrit text Vaiśeṣika Sūtra. He said ancient physician Sushruta was the world's first surgeon.

See also

• Pokhriyal ministry

External links

• Personal website of Ramesh Pokhriyal